Bottle-washer



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

J. OOOLEHAN.

BOTTLE WASHER.

Photo-Lilho her. Washington. D. c

(No Model.) w A '3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. B. COOLEHAN.

' BOTTLE WASHER.

Pgtented Oct. 25.188

(NoModeL) 3 shqets sheet a;

J. B. COOLEHAN.

BOTTLE WASHER.

No. 372,205; Patented 001;. 25, 1887.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. COOLEHAN, OF ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND.

BOTTLE-WASH E R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 372,205, dated October25, 1887.

Application filed A ril 22, 1887..

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that 'I, J OHN B. COOLEHAN, a citizen of the UnitedStates,'residing at Annapolis, in the county of Anne Arundel and Stateof Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBottle-Washers;

and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invenever, is necessary, and when this is done byhand the operation is laborious and tiresome. The object of my inventionis to produce a machine in which shot may be employed as the cleansingagent; and to this end the ,in-

vention consists, essentially, in a combined 5 shot-chamber and holderfor the bottle mounted upon or attached to an arm of an oscillatingshaft, by the oscillation of which the holder and bottle are rapidly andviolently moved back and forth in a chamber or trough containing water;also, in the means employed for imparting this backward and forwardmovement, and

in the means for washing and cleaningthe outside of the bottlesimultaneously with the cleaning of the inside. v I

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a perspective View of thepreferredform of my apparatus. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of amodification. Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6 are longitudinal sections of differentconstructions of combined shot-chambers and bottle-holders. Fig. 7 is aface View of one form of shot-chamher, and Fig. 8 is a view of abottleholder by the use of which the bottles maybe conveniently applied to andremoved from the ma-' chine. j

I will first describe the preferred form of my machine, illustrated inFig. 1 of the drawings.

A designates a tank or trough to contain water in which the bottles areto be washed, and B an oscillating shaftjournaled in a frame above thetank A. The shaft B has a series of arms, 0, to the ends of which areattached boxes or shot-chambers D. These boxes are adapted to containthe shot used in cleaning Serial No. 235,796. (No model.)

I the bottles, and they are provided at their outer ends withlaterally-opening mouths to' The shaftB v receive the necks of thebottles. also carries a series of arms, E, corresponding with the armsG, and standing in the same radial plane, the ends of which carry padsor cups 6, to fit into or over the bottoms of the bottles. The arms Eare connected by links 6 with levers F, which are also arranged on theshaft'B, and which are adapted to be engaged with and held by toothedracks b, which project at right angles from and in the same radial planewith the arms 0. .The arms 0, with their boxes or shot-chambers D, andthe arms E, with their pads or cups 6, thus form clamps which areoperated by the levers F to clamp and hold between them the bottles tobe washed. 7

Near the end of shaft 13 is a wheel, G,which has cog-teeth g on oneside, and diametrically opposite the cog-teeth a series ofratchet-teeth, g. A lever, H, which is loosely fulcrumed on the extremeend of the shaft outside of the wheel G, carries a dog, h, and a pawl,h, the

former to engage with the cog-teeth and the latter with theratchet-teeth. The dog and pawl are both pivoted to the lever and standin opposite directions. They are connected by a coupling-rod, h and areso arranged that when oneisin engagement the other is out. The dog isfor the purpose of oscillating the shaft and the pawl for the purpose ofrotating the same to raise the arms 0 E and the bottles carried therebyout of the trough or tank A. The dog h has a square tooth which engageswith the cog-teeth on the wheel G, and. while in engagement operatesthe'latter in both directions, oscillating the wheel and its shaft andvibrating the arms 0 E, whereby the bottles are moved back and forth inthe trough. When the dog is disengaged and the pawl h thrown intoengagement vwith the ratchet- I is a shalt, also journaled in the frameof 100 the machine and running parallel to the shaft B. A crank, i, onthe end of shaft 1 is connected with the end of lever H by a couplingrod or pitman, z", whereby the lever is vibrated to oscillate the shaftB when the dog h is in engagement with the cog'teeth g, or rotated tolift the arms and bottles out of the trough when the pawl h is inengagement with the ratchet-teeth g.

Intermediately between the shafts B and I is a shaft, J, also turning inhearings in the frame, which carries a cog wheel, J, that meshes with apinion, i, on shaft I. The shaft J is the driving-shaft, to which poweris applied through a crank, j, to drive the machine.

In the bottom of the tank or trough A are a series of brushes, throughwhich the bottles pass back and forth, and which clean the latterexteriorly.

The combined shot-chambers and holders D are oblong boxes, which areattached at one end to the arms 0, and have laterally-opening mouths dat their opposite ends,to receive the necks of the bottles to becleaned. These mouths have tubular extensions d, which are lined withsoft rubber or other suitable packing to protect the necks of thebottles and to form a closejoint with the latter.

(I designates valves within the boxes, by which the latter are dividedinto two compartments. The drawings show different forms of valves. Thatshown in Fig. 3 is hinged at the top, and is opened to the positionindicated in dotted lines by apush-bar, d which projects into theextension d of the mouth of the box, being attached thereto by its bentend d which forms a spring to hold the valve normally closed. The bar dis pressed back and the valve opened by the neck of the bottle when thelatter is placed in the machine. The valx e shown in Fig. 5 is hungcentrally, and is also opened by a push-bar, d". Fig. 6 shows aspring-seated slide-valve with a stem projecting through the wall of thebox, which is operated by hand. The shot are contained in the closed endof the box, which I denominate the shotchamber, and are retained thereinby the closed "alves till the bottles are placed in the machine, whenthe valves are opened, as above explained.

The bottles are put into and taken from the machine while the arms andboxes are in a horizontal position. At this time the shot are in theshotchamber. When the bottles are placed in position, the valves areopened, and as soon as the bottles are lowered into the tank the shotrun forward and enter the bottle I through the mouth d. When the armsare applied.

The valves are not absolutely necessary in the machine above described,and may, if preferred, be omitted. In such case the box will be made asrepresented in Fig. 4.

The boxes D are formed with openings d in their sides, through whichwater is admitted from the tank A. Inclined wings are placed over theseopenings to catch and direct the water through the openings as the boxesmove through the same. Fig. 7 shows openings in the face of the box,through which water is admitted. These take the place of the sideopenings above described.

When bottles with interior glass stoppers are to be cleaned, I providethe mouths of the boxes with coiled-wire springs e which enter the necksof the bottles and press the glass stoppers back, as represented in Fig.6, to allow the shot and water to enter and leave the bottle.

K designates a forcepump, (see dotted lines, Fig. 1,) the rod of whichis connected with and operated by a crank, 12 on the end of shaft B.

K is a pipe leading from the pump to and extending along the shaft B,andhaving branch pipes k, which extend along the arms 0 and into the boxesD, as shown in Fig. 4, to convcy water into the latter from the pumpwhen the machine is in operation. When the pump is used, the openings dfor admitting water into the boxes from the tank may be omitted.

B is a hand-wheel on shaft B, by which the latter may be turned to raiseand lower the bottles independently of the pawl-and-ratchet mechanismabove described.

L (see Fig. 8) is a holder provided with spring-clips Z Z, to hold thebodies and necks of the bottles, as represented in Fig. 8, thesaid clipsbeing spaced to correspond with the arms 0 E on the shaft B. The bottlesto be placed in the machine are first putinto the holder by hand. Thelatter is then placed on the tank in position to bring the bottlesbetween the boxes D and pads or cups e, when they are clamped in placeand the holder L is removed. After the bottles have been washed theholder is again pressed against them to cause them to be grasped by theclips I i, when they are nnclamped from the machine and removed, withthe holder L, to be replaced by others in the same manner.

The holder L is simply a convenience for placing the bottles in andremoving them from the machine in series. They may be placed and removedby hand, if preferred.

In the modification of my machine illustrated in Fig.2 of the drawingsthe arms 0 E and the levers Fare arranged radially on the shaft B, whichhas an intermittently rotating and oscillatory movement imparted by thefollowing mechanism:

J is the driving-shaft, to which poweris applied in the usual manner, aband-pulley being shown instead of the crankj, as above described. Thecogwheel J on this shaft engages with the pinion i on the crank-shaft I,the latter being connected by the pitman i with the lever H, which isloosely fulcrumed on the shaft B. The lever H carries a dog, h, whichengages a cog-wheel, G, on shaft B, the said dog being pressed forwardby a spring,

' h into engagement with the cogs of wheel G.

the cog-wheel G, gives a forward impulse to 'the arms E. As the leverapproaches its highest position, the dogh is released from the cog-WheelG by its arm h coming in contact with a pin, h which projects from theframe of the machine. When the dog is released, the momentum of theparts carries the arms and bottles forward. Then, when the crankt' haspassed its center and begins to draw the lever H down, the dog isreleased from the pin h and is pressed into engagement with other teethon the wheel G, thus reversing the movement of the wheel and carrying itback until the lever reaches the lowest point. When the lever has passedits lowest point, the movement is again reversed, the wheel is againturned forward, and the operation above described is repeated. The downward and upward movement of the lever H thus effects an oscillatorymovement of the shaft B, while the repeated upward movements of thelever effect an intermittently-rotating movement of the same, by whichthe arms and bottles are carried forward step by step till theysuccessively reach the position where the bottles are removed from themachine and are replaced by others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new 1. In a bottlewashingmachine, the combination, with the oscillating shaft B and its VI'.

brating arms 0, of the boxes or shot-chambers D, aflixed to the outerends of said arms, and having laterallyopening mouths d, to receive thenecks of the bottles to be washed, and

'clamping-arms E, for clamping the bottles to said boxes, substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

2. In a bottle-washing machine, the combination of an oscillating shaft,B, provided with arms 0, to the ends of which are affixed shot-chambersor boxes D, with clampingarms E, for clamping the bottles to said boxes,and with a wheel, G, having ratchet and cog teeth, of the drivingshaft Jand the driven shaft I, the said shafts I and J geared together, asshown and described, and alever, H, loosely fulerumed on the end ofshaft B and provided with dog it and pawl h, said dog and pawl connectedand moving together, whereby they may be alternately thrown into and outof engagement with said wheel, the end of said lever being connectedwith a crank on the shaft I, as shown and described.

3. In a bottle-washing machine, the-combination, with the oscillatingshaft B, its arms 0, carrying shot-boxes and holders D, and theclamping-arms E, of a force-pump the rod'of which is connected with andoperated by a crank, b, on the shaft, anda pipe, K, leading from thepump and having branches is 1eading into the boxes, whereby the latterare supplied with water from the pump by the operation of the machine,substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. The combined shot-boxes and holders for bottle washing machinesh'ereiu shown and described, having laterally-opening mouths to receivethe necks of the bottles to be washed, and interior pivoted valves whichdivide the interior of the box into two chambers, and pushrods whichproject into the mouths of the holders and are adapted to be pressedback by the necks of the bottles against the valves to open the latter,substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN B. COOLEHAN.

\Vitnesses:

CHARLES LUEDENBORA, MICHAEL B. GOOLAHAN.

